Hi all.I'm looking to replace my 6 y.o. Dell Inspiron laptop.It works OK,but by the time I replace the dead battery and add some RAM,I'll be up to a couple hundred bucks.It seems to make sense to just replace it.

The budget is $600 for the replacement.I am open to new,refurb,used,Ebay,whatever.

I use a wireless connection,cable modem,don't use it on the road hardly,(not looking for super lightweight) and would like to get it with Vista so I can upgrade it to Windows7.

What kind of specs should I look for?What kind of processor,RAM and HD?
I will probably run it plugged in 90% of the time.

p.s. :My friend's kid needs a laptop.He's 10 and it will be his first computer.Since his parents don't even know how to turn a computer on,I'm thinking that I will get him whatever I am getting,since I will end up helping and troubleshooting it anyhow. Laptop fits their situation better than a desktop.Their Budget is $600.So...I am looking for 2 laptops.

Okay, now down to business. You've got a tight budget of $600, and all of the systems I found stretch that out to the last few buckaroos. Here they are in order of best (1)->worst (3):

1:

2:

3:

If I was the one having to choose a laptop for $600, there's no doubt in my mind it'd be the HP. No doubt. I don't like Dell, and if I had to get one, I wouldn't get an Inspiron; unfortunately that's about all that I could get into your budget. And the Lenovo is built well, but spec wise, it's going to get it's rear kicked by the HP.

You are getting the best for your money with the HP IMHO.

Anyone else can certainly bomb over here and add some suggestions. I'd be surprised if 01001010 doesn't show up and help out...He'll point out anything I missed.

BTW...I do occasionally use Photoshop and Sketchup. Sketchup seemed to bog the whole rig down,so after a month or so I uninstalled it. I also recently tried to view one of the internet magazines (with the flippy pages) and had some problems.Just to give you a better idea on what I want to do. I don't game with it.

No problem! If you are using PS, you'll see a pretty decent performance jump when handling large files with 4GB of RAM over 2GB, and the faster processor in the HP will outperform the others. Out of these three, I would fully recommend the HP.